Many types of foods are packaged in discrete packages or cans and then cooked while being slowly conveyed through a heated chamber. Multiple packages are simultaneously processed within the chamber.
The capacity of hydrostatic cookers to process foods is generally limited not only by the ability to quickly and reliably load filled containers into the cooker, but also by the ability to quickly and reliably discharge filled containers from the cooker. Problems associated with discharging are magnified when the containers must be unloaded continuously to maintain process control.
In the processing of canned foods by conventional apparatus, cylindrical containers, cans or jars are placed along a common horizontally aligned axis end-to-end and form a grouping, commonly referred to as a "stick". Each stick is positioned on a respective flight or tray attached to an endless conveyor chain which continuously transports the containers through the various processing stages of the cooker and returns them to a discharge port of the cooker. Typically the stick of containers is of the order of seven feet in length. The number of containers in each stick is determined by the axial length of each of the containers in the stick. The diameter range of the containers in the sticks is determined by the particular design of ribs in links of the cooker chain and the curvatures of sprockets and profiles of the chain as same is routed through the cooker.
Upon reaching the discharge port, which completes a cycle of the cooker processes, an entire stick of containers must be simultaneously dumped, ejected or otherwise discharged from a pocket of the cooker chain freeing up one link of the hydrostatic cooker flight chain such that another stick of unprocessed containers can be inserted therein, thus beginning another cycle of cooker processing as to that flight of the cooker chain. However, the various discharge apparatus associated with prior art cookers have experienced difficulty in controlling discharged containers, especially at high speed.
Therefore, a decided need exists for an improved apparatus and procedure which is coordinated and synchronized with the cooker flight chain, regardless of the linear velocity thereof, which quickly and efficiently removes discharged sticks of containers under control from the vicinity of the exit port of a hydrostatic cooker while maintaining the forward speed of the drive chain at an optimal rate to properly cook the food at a desired temperature while in the cooker.
Another requirement of the discharge apparatus is to transport the discharged, processed containers rapidly and effectively away from the discharge port of the cooker chain. Failure to perform this requirement quickly leads to substantial congestion near the discharge port of the cooker chain in the form of jammed, damaged or broken containers. This is particularly important since any interference which sufficiently interrupts the flow of containers from the hydrostatic cooker such that the cooker chain must be stopped will alter the residence time of containers currently in transit through the steam dome of the hydrostatic cooker and thereby affect the quality of cook of the contents of such containers.